information technology (it) strategy

Information Technology (IT)Strategy 2020-2025

ContentsStrategy Foreword Page 4

Strategic Context Page 6

Purpose of the Strategy Page 8

IT Transformation Programme (2016 – 2020) Page 9

Sustainability & Carbon Footprint Page 11

Approach to Efficiency Page 12

Scope Page 14

Deliverables Page 16

Performance Management & Review Page 23

Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Page 24

Finances Page 25

Conclusion Page 30

Strategy ForewordLead Member for IT, Cllr TuttInformation Technology is at the heart of everything that we do, and delivery of the IT Strategy over the next five years will ensure further improvement to the Service’s technology and associated capabilities.

The IT Strategy sets challenging targets for improving the condition and functional suitability of the Service’s back office and front-line systems and for having a positive impact on the environment. With this Strategy, appropriate investment can be properly targeted and I look forward to seeing continued improvement and development of technology which, for the Authority, is key to transforming the way we operate and collaborate to improve efficiency and deliver the best service we can to the community we serve.

Chief Fire Officer, Dawn WhittakerSince 2016 the Service has delivered on its commitment to replace core Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and we have seen an increase in reliability and flexibility. ESFRS is continuing to invest in a major IT refresh and new capabilities to support the business needs of our service. We will continue to work closely with our outsourced IT service provider, telent to ensure we deliver efficiently, effectively and maximise digital and technological opportunities.

The IT Strategy will deliver further improvements to our systems over the next five years, ensuring our staff have the right IT systems and information to carry out their roles and tackle incidents effectively. Along with advancements in security, IT infrastructure and firefighter safety, health and well-being, the IT Strategy will ensure that we have the best possible environment for our colleagues and partners for the future in order to support the delivery of services to the public.

Strategic Context The direction of the IT Strategy 2020-2025 is driven by the organisational purpose of ‘making our communities safer’ and our four key commitments:

• Delivering high performing services

• Educating our communities

• Developing a multi-skilled, safe & valued workforce

• Making effective use of our resources

Since the last IT Strategy was published in 2017, East Sussex Fire Authority has overseen an ambitious change programme in how its fire and rescue services are provided across East Sussex and the City of Brighton & Hove.

A series of new service strategies are now in place, which set out what the organisation aims to achieve in terms of our People, Inclusion and Diversity, Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Information Management, Procurement, Estates and Communication and Engagement. Service delivery priorities have been reset in the new Safer Communities Strategy in order to explicitly demonstrate how we are responding to the risks with targeted response, prevention and protection work.

A Service Delivery structure review has been completed with the involvement of colleagues, focusing on wellbeing, effectiveness and efficiency. This provided a more agile and enabling structure that compliments the development of supporting processes and systems (Support and Delivery Framework). During 2019 the Service completed an overarching Operational Response Review, which will ultimately feed into the new Integrated Risk Management Plan.

In 2019 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) completed an independent inspection of ESFRS, as part of its overall programme of inspections of all English Fire and Rescue Services to assess progress against the Government fire reform agenda of accountability and transparency, efficiency, collaboration and workforce reform.

The inspection produced a series of recommendations, including the importance of ensuring IT investments support efficient or effective working for front line colleagues.

The nature of the Fire & Rescue Service continues to change, with an emphasis on prevention and protection activities. These activities highlight the risks to our community and addresses them through proactive education and training campaigns. This increasing engagement drives the need for better integrated information and more complex analysis. It also requires us to put in place more effective social media and other technologies to help the community engage with the Service.

The focus remains on keeping our firefighters and community safe. This means a programme of continual improvement to the systems we use to make sure our firefighters have the right information to tackle incidents effectively, and ensuring our firefighters are properly trained and competent in all systems, processes and protocols.

The functions that support the operation of the Service and front lines colleagues range from Human Resources to Engineering, Communications to Finance, Procurement and more. The IT Strategy deliverables, driven by the Corporate Plan and department strategies, has been formulated to ensure that colleagues have the systems and tools required to be effective in their roles.

The Fire Authority still faces financial challenges in the face of continued uncertainty on funding with the forecasted need to save between £0.6m and £3.7m over the medium term, which is in addition to savings of £8.7m delivered since 2010. This continues to drive the need to deliver more efficient business practices, which requires the Service to implement digital technologies and automated workflow in order to remove paper driven processes.

Purpose of the StrategyThe IT Strategy 2020-2025 builds on the significant progress made since the decision to outsource IT Services to telent in November 2016 and embark on a transformation programme of the core IT infrastructure and applications.

The IT services are a key enabler to deliver the organisation’s goals and the IT Strategy is the mechanism through which this will be delivered.

The IT Strategy deliverables have been developed to support and align with the Corporate Plan and have been formulated with and reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and senior managers, to establish the key strategic goals of the organisation to ensure alignment with the associated technology.

The IT Strategy quantifies the investment required over the next five years arising from the Service’s ‘demand’ for IT improvements and the prioritisation of such investments.

The strategy also recognises the increased drive to work in partnership and collaboration with other fire and rescue services and public bodies, as demonstrated by the Surrey Joint Fire Control project (Project 21) and to share information with adjacent county councils, health services and police forces.

IT Transformation Programme (2016-2020)In 2015 the Service recognised that its systems were fragmented, ageing and in many cases the IT infrastructure and applications were end of life. Combined with an internal IT team with limited capacity, it was not possible to support the Service change programme.

The Service commissioned an IT Transformation Programme with support from external consults with objectives to:

• Implementing a modern ICT infrastructure to enable smarter and more efficient ways of working

• An infrastructure that provides secure and resilient ICT services

• A transition of the management of ICT services to an appointed third party technology provider telent Technology Services (November 2016)

• Supported by a new IT Strategy and a commitment to invest £8.8m during a five year programme approved in June 2017.

telent Technology Services were appointed as outsourced service delivery partner in November 2016 and at the same time the new internal Information Technology Governance (ITG) function was established to work closely with colleagues and telent to deliver new infrastructure and systems.

Technology already delivered in the period between 2016 and 2020 includes:

• Resilient dual data centres, together with new networking infrastructure and IT security.

• New telent Flexicloud replaced physical end of life hardware with a modern virtualised environment, including a new Microsoft Exchange email system

• Significantly improved resilience and IT Disaster Recovery capability

• Mobile and home working capability, with 299 laptops and 52 tablets deployed to colleagues

• TomTom Officer Navigation devices deployed in officers’ cars, improving effectiveness by delivering system generated voice updates from the control room en route to incidents.

• Business cases approved and project mobilisation completed for replacement of key line of business applications (CRM, Firewatch and Performance Management)

• 3rd party Information Security consultancy (Aristi) contracted to assist the service with improving its information and cyber security, aligned to Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO27001 certifications

• Office 365 license agreement signed to provide productivity tools for digital transformation (Sharepoint, Workflow).

More recently Cisco Webex virtual meeting and instant messaging has been deployed across the Service and used to a significant degree during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

The programme undertaken in partnership with telent between 2016 and 2020 has laid the foundations for the next steps in transforming the organisations IT systems, allowing the Service to leverage value from further investment through the IT Strategy 2020-2025.

Sustainability & Carbon FootprintThe IT Strategy is designed to ensure that technologies are implemented to further enhance flexible working in order to reduce the need for travel, and when combined with the move to cloud computing services in place of on premise systems, assist in reducing the Service’s overall carbon footprint, therefore helping to minimise the impact on the environment. Other options to improve sustainability and reduce carbon footprint will be explored with the Service’s provider, telent, as the projects within the Strategy are developed.

Approach to EfficiencyThere are a number of principles (Foundation and IT Architecture) which we propose to use to guide decisions, technical design, projects and approach to service delivery, in order to maximise the return on IT investments and reduce the total cost of ownership to the Service.

Foundation Principles

• Facilitate the delivery of department strategies: we must align with the Corporate Plan and Department Strategies on an annual basis, to agree and plan the associated technologies required.

• Value for Money: we must ensure all IT services offer value for money, either in themselves or by enabling wider service and process efficiencies.

• Ensure we can enable growth: IT services should continue to support improved flexibility and responsiveness to meet future business requirements in an agile and structured manner.

• Resilience: services will continue to be reliable, resilient and secure, with appropriate IT disaster recovery plans in place.

• Total cost of ownership: we will simplify the technology portfolio to reduce complexity and make service management more efficient.

• Collaboration: we will actively participate in and contribute to the The Link Consortium, the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (BAPCO), the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) IT Managers Forum and NFCC Digital & Data Programme.

• Governance: business strategies are clearly defined, business case led IT investments decisions. Prioritisation provided by the ESFRS Change Board and SLT.

• Planning: mature programme approach to planned demand / supply management, closely aligned with the ESFRS business planning process.

IT Architecture Guiding PrinciplesDeveloped and agreed by ITG and telent Technical Design Authority to ensure that new technology will be sourced and delivered as part of an overall technology architecture.

Principle RationaleCommercial Cloud Considered

Develop the utilisation of commercial cloud services to lower cost of ownership and implement a more cost-effective support model.

Commercial Off The Shelf

Foster the utilisation of suppliers’ off the shelf supported software where suppliers have provided non-bespoke or in house developed applications or services. Ensuring scalable support and cost-effective support model. Consideration should also be given for COTS packages already deployed in the Fire Sector.

Business Requirements Based Change

Develop a culture where the information environment changes in response to the needs of the business, where cost effective, rather than having the business change in response to IT changes.

Responsive Change Management

Ensure changes to the information environment are implemented in a timely manner so that if colleagues are expected to work within the information environment, that information must be responsive to their needs.

Control Technical Diversity & Compatibility

This principle will limit the number of supported components, which will simplify maintainability and reduce ongoing cost of ownership. Technology will not be introduced without ensuring appropriate support available. Nor will technology be implemented that relies on legacy IT infrastructure.

Interoperability Implement established IT standards to help ensure consistency, improving the ability to manage systems and improve user satisfaction and protect IT investments, therefore, maximising return on investment and reducing costs. This will include the standardisation of interfaces and the ability to share information with other systems and support collaboration with other agencies.

Information Security First

This principle will foster the utilisation of security architecture and standards such as ISO27001 alignment, Cyber Essential Plus accredited services as well as alignment with Emergency Services Network architecture patterns. This includes a new statutory or regulatory mandate, threat realised or experienced.

Resilience by Design

Resilience should be commensurate with the criticality of the services supported.

ScopeThe strategy recognises the need to develop an integrated, cohesive and flexible platform to better support the Service, front line colleagues and ultimately the community moving forward.

IT services across ESFRS still lack the integration required and in some areas application functionality and automation remains limited, resulting in a continued reliance on paper forms and legacy manual processes. In some cases, such as the lack of integration between the resource management system (Firewatch) and the mobilising system, it means significant levels of manual status changes, additional checks and numerous interactions between the control room and frontline colleagues. This issue will be addressed within the first 18 months of this IT Strategy via the Firewatch and P21 projects, which are already underway.

The IT Strategy recognises the challenge associated with the pace of technological change affecting fire services and society generally, which will only be accelerated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Linked with the importance of delivering new technologies that positively improve the experience of frontline colleagues in delivery of their roles on a day to day basis.

Technology ChallengeTechnology Foundations

To complete the replacement of end of life infrastructure such as end user desktops, including the rollout of Windows 10, Office 365, WiFi and Station End Equipment replacement programme. Continue to develop virtual meeting and mobile working technologies as part of the Service’s Covid-19 Recovery Plan

Line of Business Applications

To complete the change projects underway to further reduce risk whilst delivering operational efficiencies. Projects include CRM, Firewatch, Fire Ground Radio and Project 21.

Application Integration

Application integration is still limited, leading to significant levels of manual entry/duplicated effort and a reliance on paper driven processes. In turn this limits the ability to deliver efficiencies.

No integration between Firewatch and the mobilising system (addressed by Project 21). No integration between the CRM and the mobilising system (being addressed by the CRM Project & Project 21.

Weaknesses in the interface of incident data from the mobilising system to the IRS reporting system (addressed by Project 21).

Performance Management / Business Intelligence and Analytics

Availability of application analytics and aggregation of information sources remains a limitation. Currently being addressed by the Performance Management project and implementation of application specific analytics e.g. CRM and Firewatch analytics

Collaboration Technologies

The introduction of Webex, Office 365 and Sharepoint now provides the platform to facilitate digital collaboration and optimised digital workflows, digital signatures. Allowing the removal of significant volumes of legacy paper forms and related manual processes.

End User Computing / Flexible Working

Complete replacement of end of life PCs/workstations across the Service and the rollout of Windows 10, Office 365, along with tablet devices for Home Safety Visits and Business Safety.

Remaining challenges that this strategy seeks to address can be summarised as follows:

DeliverablesCommitment 1 – Delivering high performing services

Objective Business OutcomesProject 21 – Joint Fire Control Complete the onboarding to Surrey Joint Fire Control. Resulting in a modern

supported mobilising solution, enabling Operational efficiencies & better utilisation of resources through the tri-service partnership

Improve the maturity of the Service’s information security by aligning with ISO27001

Improvements in Information Security achieved, reducing the risk to service data & systems. By achieving Cyber Essentials Plus Certification, along with annual IT Health checks & ISO27001 assessments

Complete the replacement of Station End IT infrastructure

Resilient IT station equipment and reduced risk to mobilising. Lifing policies are in place for the scheduled replacement of such equipment

Rollout of Windows 10, Office 365, Sharepoint and replacement of end of life desktops & laptops

Colleagues have secure and fit for purpose workstations & laptops facilitating an efficient working environment. Ensuring supported technologies are in place by modernising technologies deployed

Maximise efficiencies (cashable/non-cashable) from IT Strategy investments

Related business cases detail cashable / non-cashable benefits, which are then reported on a quarterly basis

Establish IT enterprise architecture Effective system integration & efficient business processes. Cost effective IT systems & fit for purpose architecture.

Emergency Services Network (ESN) ESN Business Case including business & technology impacts and associated implementation estimates

Commitment 2 – Educating our communities

Objective Business OutcomesUtilise virtual meeting platforms to organise ‘virtual’ education hubs with the community

Recognise and utilise societal changes as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically the move virtual meetings and video calls across all age groups

Commitment 3 – Developing a multi-skilled, safe & valued workforce

Objective Business OutcomesExpansion of E-Learning Crews have better access to information and improved methods of learning

available through the expansion of E-Learning, supporting the maintenance of competences

Fire Ground Radio Digital fit for purpose fire ground radios, improving firefighter safety and effectiveness on the fire ground

Implementation of a new Hydrant Management system

Improved accuracy and management of hydrant data reducing risk

Corporate Wi-Fi Greater mobility & flexibility for colleagues, also facilitating the efficient use of appliance MDTs.

One to Many video conferencing Improved collaboration and meeting effectiveness

Improve the service’s efficiency and effectiveness through investment in core line of business systems - Customer Relationship Management

Improved Community Safety, Business Safety and SSRI business processes and workflows that enable a more efficient use of resources. Reduction in the time taken to collate and communicate Site Specific Risk Information.

Effective targeting and use of Business Safety and Community Safety resources to deliver Safer Community services to the community. Capacity released and focused on risk reduction.

Paper-based processes eliminated improving efficiency, by removing data double entry and in reduction of data entry errors. Business processes underpinned with mobile working, digital workflows, providing timely communication of individual, community and premises risks.

Commitment 4 – Make effective use of our resources

Objective Business OutcomesImprove the service’s efficiency and effectiveness through investment in core line of business systems - Firewatch

Integration with the mobilising system allowing FireWatch to automatically update the mobilising system with crewing and availability and then for the mobilising systems to automatically update FireWatch incident data.

RDS Pay implemented, delivering increased data accuracy at reduced cost through reduction in manual processes and data entry. Timeliness of On Call claims ensuring On Call Firefighters receive correct and appropriate remuneration.

Crewing of specialist officer and vehicles on FireWatch, ensuring competency training requirements are monitored. Consistent approach to recording of training on FireWatch. Improved accuracy of crewing availability through use of qualification exclusion functionality will be in line with EFSRS policies and training competencies.

Self Service improving integrity of employee data held on FireWatch, enabling On Call personnel to view shifts remotely and to remotely book holiday

Improve the service’s efficiency and effectiveness by digitising processes – Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS)

Reduction in paper forms and reduced multiple handling of data and improved data accuracy

A workplace environment that is increasingly anchored in the digital workplace, supporting the transition to enhanced ways of working delivering increased effectiveness and efficiency

Introduction of a document management and workflow systems based on Sharepoint ensuring accurate records management and optimised digital workflows, whilst facilitating enhanced information sharing with other public service partners

Improve the service’s efficiency and effectiveness through investment in Finance & Procurement systems and processes

Migration to new finance system as part of the ESCC led MBOSS project to replace SAP.

Streamlined Finance and Procurement processes in place along with enhanced financial integrity and efficiency. Improve integration between finance & other systems

Objective Business OutcomesImprove the service’s efficiency and effectiveness through investment in core line of business systems - Performance Management System

Improved Strategic Business Planning and providing greater access to strategic reporting and management information. Facilitating development of business objectives and focus for corporate KPI’s

More effective risk management through providing greater access to risk registers and in supporting definition of actions for mitigation to corporate risks in a timely manner. Providing appropriate levels of management information to managers that enable informed decision making

Wider distribution of performance information improving Service Delivery by service personnel through visibility of station specific activities and performance. Audience specific dashboards to highlight areas of performance of direct interest and a fully integrated Business Intelligence system to ensure more targeted publication of reports

ESFRS Line of Business Systems

The diagram below illustrates the core Line of Business Systems, which are priorities for the IT Strategy 2020-2025 and associated investments.

Performance& Intelligence

P21 BI, IRS & InPhase

FinanceSAP

Customer

ManagementDynamics CRM

Fleet & Asset Management

Training

Workforce Management

Firewatch Fire Control MobilisingSurrey JointFire Control

Risk

Business Safety

Home Safety

Fire

Corporate Reports

Corporate Performance

KPIs

Management

Corporate Planning

ReportsProject

Human Resources

Asset Management

Fleet Management

Financial Management

Payroll

Fleet & Asset Availability

Retained Pay

Retained Availability

Duty Planning

Financial Planning

Training Records

Training Course

Management

E-Learning

Health & Safety

Training Records

Personnel Competency

Personnel Changes

(PCF)

Structure

Fire Engineering

Business Safety

OPs Trackers

Personnel Debrief

Schools

Firewise

Safeguarding

Legal Cases

Corporate

Incident Records

e-IRS

Community

Personnel Records Risk

Business Safety

Home Safety

Fire

Business Safety

Personnel Debrief

Schools

Safeguarding

Legal Cases

Fleet & Asset Availability

Personnel Competency

Plan on a Page

The diagram below illustrates how the organisation’s priorities will be achieved through a set of project deliverables with an indicative timeline. The schedule will be delivered through a structured and prioritised set of programmes according to PMO processes and approvals.

(H) P21 Fire Control(Inc MDT Replacement)

(H) Tri-service WoW Alignment

(H) CRM Upgrade (H) CRM SSRI

(M) Firewatch Retained Pay

(H) CRM HSV (H) CRM Business Safety

(H) Finance System Replacement

(M) H&S System

(H) ESN Compliance (Surrey Control / ESFRS Device Rollout)

(L) Fleet & Asset System Replacement

(L) Telent Contract Review

Short Term2020/21 2021/22

Medium Term2022/23 2023/24

Long Term2024/25 2025/26

Business Change ProjectsIT Projects

(L) Webex Rollout

(H) O365 Sharepoint

(L) WAN CPE Replacement

(M) Desktop H/W Replacement (M) Migrate to MS Endpoint Security

Maint.

(M) Laptop H/W Replacement (M) Telent Flexi-cloud Replacement

Key:

Low Impact Project / 1-

(H)

(L) Print Strategy

(H) TomTom Replacement

2(M)(L)

(M) Migrate to Outlook Secure End

(M) PSN Compliance

(M)TomTom upgrade

(M) Password Manager (L) Azure Cloud Backup

(L) Telephony Strategy

Programme View

The diagram below illustrates the IT Strategy deliverables organised into the existing PMO Clusters.

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Business Capability / Operations Capability / ESMCP

2022/20232021/2022

ESN (ESMCP)

Station End Phase 3 (Firecoders)

Estates

IT Roadmap 2020/2021

MDT Modernisation (Replacement)

Pagers & Alerters (Replacement)

ESFC SAN-H Repurposing

e-IRS Azure Cloud Migration

Firewatch to Capita Vision Availability Integration

ESFC ICCS Support/Upgrade

Blue Light Exchange

Windows 10 Migration

Information Security

Increase Flexible Working Capabilities

WAN CPE Replacement

Migrate to OneDrive

WAN CPE Replacement

Mobile Phone and Device Strategy

Migrate to OneDriveWAN CPE Replacement

Exchange Online

IT Outsource Re-tender

Print Strategy

Webex - One to Many Video STC Cisco Room Kit

CRM – Upgrade, SSRI, HSV, Business Safety

Performance Management System (Phase 2,3,4)

Health & Safety System

EDRMS

Fleet & Asset Replacement System

PSN Complience

Information Security

EDRMS

Finance System Improvement / Replacement

Laptop Lifing

ESN (ESMCP)

New IT Comms Rooms

New IT Comms Rooms

New IT Comms Rooms

Pagers & Alerters (Replacement)


TomTom Upgrade

Laptop Lifing

Desktop Lifing

Migrate AD Online

Active Directory Online

Azure Cloud Backup

Azure Cloud Backup

Station End Phase 4

FireWatch (Software and HR process upgrade)


Password Manager

FireWatch & iLearn Integration

Migrate Exchange Online

IRS Software Upgrade

GDPR File Cleansing

Microsoft Secure Send

WAN Strategy

Increase Flexible Working Capabilities

Decommission MIS

MDM Migration

VPN Migration

Finance System Improvement / Replacement

EDRMS

Capita Vision to Firewatch Retained Pay Integration

Performance Management & ReviewThe ESFRS / telent IT Strategic Board exists to provide senior level guidance, leadership and strategy for the overall delivery of the Services from telent and to act as the point of escalation; it provides an environment for review, discussion and consideration with final decision making subject to the decision routes within the respective organisations.

• Receiving and reviewing service reports from the telent Service Manager and reviewing recommendations on technology, service and other developments that offer potential for improving the benefit that ESFRS is receiving, in particular value for money.

• Identifying strategic business opportunities which IT can support, highlighting duplication or misalignment of objectives and priorities which have an IT dependency, and providing guidance on matters which may impact on the implementation of the IT services, to inform SLT.

• Ensuring a single approved programme and project pipeline in close coordination with ESFRS ITG, PMO and SLT.

Stakeholder Needs/DriversEnvironment, Resilience, Efficiency, Funding,

Benefits Realisation, Risk Optimisation, Resource Optimisation

Business GoalsESFRS Strategies, Business Plans,

Initiatives & Governance

IT StrategyRoadmap

Efficiency & Effectiveness

ESFRS / telentStrategic Board

telent Project Delivery

telent ITG Service Reviews

IT / telentPipelineITG / telent

Technical Design Authority

telent Inovations

ITG Business Engagement

IT Governance

Other Emergency Service / Other

Markets

Inclusion, Equality and DiversityWe know that understanding inclusion, equality and diversity are an integral part of keeping our communities safer, stronger and healthier.

We will work to achieve the aims of the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Strategy 2017-2021.

• Knowing your communities

• Leadership, partnership and service commitment

• Community engagement and satisfaction

• Responsive services

• A skilled and committed workforce

This IT Strategy is designed to facilitate and support the Service’s IE and D strategy.

FinancesRealising the ambition that the Service has for its business systems and IT infrastructure between 2020 and 2025 is not without its financial challenges.

The technology deliverables required to facilitate the ESFRS Corporate and Directorate strategies/plans have been translated into a series of prioritised business change projects with an IT workstream and a series of specific IT projects. The business projects, associated technology deliverables and desired timescales have then been prioritised during interviews with Assistant Directors and senior managers.

The summary financial schedules below include inflight business projects such as CRM, Firewatch, Performance Management and Project 21. The schedules also include candidate projects with a technical workstream considered as dependencies required to deliver the Service’s business plans, such as a new Paging & Alerting solution.

IT projects contained within the financial schedules include existing technology deliverables such as Information Security and the Windows 10 rollout. The schedules also include the technical projects considered by ITG and telent as essential to address the remaining weaknesses in the Service’s IT infrastructure, such as the need to replace end of life legacy PCs/laptops and complete the rollout of Office 365 and Sharepoint.

Project Funding Requirement In June 2020 SLT agreed the IT related priorities for available funding as:

• Mobilising Strategy Project 21

• CRM

• Firewatch

• Performance Management

• Electronic Document Management System

• IT Infrastructure Projects / Office 365

• Information Security

Following prioritisation by the Assistant Directors and scaling back of the Service’s technology ambitions in line with the agreed priorities, it leaves an estimated project funding shortfall of £0.20m over the five years of the IT Strategy to 2025 (see Table 1)

The Service also wishes to complete the development of the new CRM Home Safety Visit (HSV) and Business Safety systems, which will see the removal of inefficient paper processes and the implementation of automated workflow and electronic data capture. It is estimated that the development, purchase of devices and other associated deployment costs could increase the project funding shortfall by a further £0.82m from £0.20m to £1.02m.

Costed proposals for the development of CRM HSV and Business Safety are due to be presented to SLT in October 2020, including the prioritisation of ‘Must Have’ functionality in order to reduce the estimated cost and a review of benefits identification and realisation.

Table 1 Project Summary One-off Costs £000’s 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Total

Existing Business Projects 1,243 1,125 360 130 0 2,858

Existing IT Project 307 387 0 0 0 694

ESN Readiness 0 713 712 0 0 1,425

P21- ESFRS IT Integration 2,260 0 0 0 0 2,260

New Business Project 265 45 220 0 0 530

New IT Project 176 459 461 380 1,005 2,481

Total Requirement 4,251 2,729 1,753 510 1,005 10,248

Source of FundingIT Strategy Reserve (1,871) (2,016) (1,041) (510) (802) (6,240)

ESN Readiness Reserve 0 (713) (712) 0 0 (1,425)

Mobilising Strategy (P21) (2,260) 0 0 0 0 (2,260)

Protection Surge Grant (120) 0 0 0 0 (120)

Total Funding (4,251) (2,729) (1,753) (510) (592) (10,045)

Total Funding Shortfall 0 0 0 0 203 203

Project Funding Shortfall over 5 years 203

IT Revenue Funding RequirementIT operating costs are due to increase in line with the deployment of the new technologies, mainly due to increases in license, support costs and the move to cloud computing.

IT operating costs are estimated to exceed the current IT revenue budget funding by a total of £2.51m over the next five years – including CRM HSV and Business Safety. Or alternatively £2.05m excluding CRM HSV and Business Safety (see Table 2).

This will result in a £0.11m pressure on the IT revenue budget starting in 2020/21 rising to £0.56m in 2021/22 and £0.72m by 2024/25.

The pressure in the 2020/21 IT revenue is caused by greater than expected Station End Phase 3 and MDT running costs and the impact of a number of P21 related projects that will go live before 2021/22.

The migration to cloud based technologies will see a move from capital investment to increased revenue spend over the next five years. This is part of a technology trend seen throughout the Commercial and Public sectors.

The one-off project funding gap and the ongoing IT revenue pressures will need to be addressed through the budget setting process and reflected in the Revenue Budget 2021/22 and the Medium Term Finance Plan 2021/22 – 2025/26. Consideration will also be given to whether any of the proposed one off costs in the Strategy should be capitalised.

Table 2 IT Revenue Ongoing Costs £000’s 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Total

Existing Business Projects 343 404 404 404 412 1,967

Existing IT Project 200 223 223 223 223 1,092

ESN Readiness 0 0 0 0 0 0

Telent Outsource 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,200 6,000

P21- ESFRS IT Integration 55 145 145 145 145 920

New Business Project 0 74 74 74 74 298

New IT Project 56 445 455 445 602 1,993

Total Requirement 1,854 2,491 2,491 2,491 2,656 11,985

Source of FundingExisting IT Revenue (1,744) (1,744) (1,744) (1,744) (1,744) (8,720)

ESN Revenue (Tbc) 0 0 0 0 0 0

Mobilising Strategy (P21) 0 (190) (190) (190) (190) (760)

Total Funding (1,744) (1,934) (1,934) (1,934) (1,934) (9,480)

Funding Shortfall 110 557 557 557 722 2,505

IT Revenue Funding Shortfall over 5 years 2,505

ConclusionThe IT Strategy 2020-2025 builds on the significant progress made since the decision to outsource IT Services to telent in November 2016 and embark on a transformation programme of the core IT infrastructure and applications.

IT services are a key enabler to deliver the organisation’s strategic objectives and the IT Strategy is the mechanism through which this will be delivered.

The IT Strategy deliverables have been developed in support of and aligned to the Corporate Plan and have been formulated and reviewed in conjunction with the Assistant Directors and Senior Officers, taking into consideration the Operational Response Review and the findings detailed in the 2019 HMICFRS inspection report.

Project 21 and the tri-service Joint Fire Control collaboration with Surrey FRS and West Sussex FRS have also been a major influence on the direction of the strategy in relation to fire control systems and related IT infrastructure.

Technology trends such as the migration to cloud computing, advances in data analytics, the growth of flexible working and the rapid move to virtual working as a result of Covid-19 have been considered.

The working lives of colleagues will be affected, for the better, with the introduction of new technologies outlined in this strategy.

Funding in support of the Service’s ambition will always pose a challenge.

A detailed prioritisation process conducted by the Assistant Directors and scaling back of the Service’s technology ambitions in line with the agreed priorities, has reduced the funding shortfall (project and IT revenue costs) to £2.25m for the five years of the IT Strategy.

The shortfall (project and IT revenue costs) will be increased to £3.53m for the five years of the IT Strategy, should the Service wish to complete the development of the CRM HSV and Business Safety systems.

Further funding will be identified through the budget review process in order to resolve the funding shortfall.

The IT Strategy does not take account the business resources and capacity that will be required to implement the Service’s ambitions in this area.

Finally, SLT have committed to develop detailed business cases to justify investments, defining the associated business benefits and efficiency savings.

Item

Appendix 1 – Detailed Project Budget Business Projects One-Off Costs

P21

Exis

tin

gP

roje

ct

Bu

dg

et

Con

fid

ence

(%)

20/2

1£0

00

’s

21/2

2£0

00

’s

22/2

3£0

00

’s

23/2

4£0

00

’s

24/2

5£0

00

’s

2 Pagers and Alerters Y Y 50 0 223 230 0 0

1 Station End IT Refresh (Phase 3 & 4) Y Y 100 207 222 0 0 0

3 MDT Modernisation (Hardware & Software) Y Y 80 430 0 0 0 0

5 CRM N Y 60 870 0 0 0 0

6 EDRMS N Y 100 300 300 0 0 0

8Finance System Improvement / Replacement

N Y 60 0 130 130 130 0

10 ESN (ESMCP) N Y 100 0 713 712 0 0

11 FireWatch (Software and HR process upgrade) N Y 100 27 0 0 0 0

12 PSN Compliance N Y 80 0 250 0 0 0

16 Integrated Health & Safety System N N 20 130 0 0 0 0

17 Fleet & Asset Replacement System N N 10 0 0 200 0 0

53 One to many video STC Cisco Room Kit N N 70 20 0 0 0 0

58 FireWatch Appliance Availability Integration Y Y 60 31 0 0 0 0

59 FireWatch Retained Pay Integration Y Y 60 55 0 0 0 0

61 GDPR File Cleanse N Y 100 46 0 0 0 0

78Performance Management System (Phase 2,3,4)

N N 10 30 20 20 0 0

80 iLearn & FireWatch Integration N N 50 60 0 0 0 0

84 Project 21 - ESFRS IT Integration Costs Y Y 100 1537 0 0 0 0

85 Increase Flexible working capabilities N N 10 25 25 0 0 0

14 Information Security N Y 100 50 50 0 0 0

Total: 3,818 1,933 1,292 130 0

Less source of funding from IT Strategy Reserve (1,438) (1,221) (580) (130) 0

Less source of ESN Grant 0 (713) (712) 0 0

Protection Surge Grant (120) 0 0 0 0

Less source of FA agreed funding for P21 (ESFRS IC) (2,260) 0 0 0 0

Total net one off costs / (saving): 0 0 0 0 0

Appendix 1 – Detailed Business Projects (One-off Costs)

Item

Appendix 1 – Detailed Project Budget (Continued) IT Projects

One-Off Costs

P21

Exis

tin

gP

roje

ct

Bu

dg

et

Con

fid

ence

(%)

20/2

1£0

00

’s

21/2

2£0

00

’s

22/2

3£0

00

’s

23/2

4£0

00

’s

24/2

5£0

00

’s

25 Migrate to Windows 10 N Y 60 132 0 0 0 0

26 Migrate to OneDrive N N 60 0 50 50 0 0

27 Migrate to Outlook Secure Send N N 75 0 10 0 0 0

30 Implement Sharepoint Online N N 50 0 0 0 0 25

32 Migrate to Exchange Online N N 75 10 40 0 0 0

35 Decommission MIS N N 10 0 0 40 0 0

36 eIRS software Upgrade N N 70 57 0 0 0 0

37 Upgrade TomTom Bridge N N 20 0 0 100 0 0

40 Laptop Lifing N N 90 0 160 90 0 0

41 Desktop Lifing N Y 90 125 0 0 0 0

42 Migrate Lifeboat to Sharepoint Online (Document Management Solution)

N N 25 0 0 65 0 0

44 Migrate to AD Online N N 40 0 30 25 0 0

45 Station IT Replacement (Station UPS Replacement) N N 90 0 0 0 0 125

47 Station PA System Replacement N N 75 0 0 0 0 80

48 WAN CPE Replacement N N 60 56 59 31 0 0

49 IT Outsource re-tender N N 60 0 50 0 0 250

55 Implement Password Manager N N 90 38 0 0 0 0

60 Azure Cloud Backup N N 90 5 0 0 0 0

63 Mobile Phone and Device Strategy / replacement N N 75 0 60 0 0 0

64 Lewes HQ Network Lifing N N 90 0 0 0 30 0

66 IP Telephony Strategy N N 20 0 0 0 350 0

67 Primary Data Centre Infrastructure lifing N N 50 0 0 0 0 250

68 Printing Strategy N N 20 10 0 0 0 0

69 Secondary Data Centre Infrastructure lifing N N 50 0 0 0 0 100

70 WAN strategy N Y 90 0 337 0 0 0

71 VPN Migration N N 75 0 0 20 0 0

72 MDM Migration N N 50 0 0 40 0 0

74 Station End IT Refresh (Switch Replacement) N N 90 0 0 0 0 175

Total: 433 796 461 380 1,005

Less source of funding from 2017-2022 IT Strategy Reserve (433) (796) 461 (380) (802)

Total net one off costs / (saving): 0 0 0 0 203

Grand Total 0 0 0 0 203

Grand Total over 5 Years 203

Appendix 1 – Detailed IT Projects (One-off Costs)

Appendix 2 – Directorate Strategies / Plans & Dependencies with IT Strategy ProjectsIt

em

Description Op

erat

ion

al

Sup

por

t &

R

esili

ence

HR

&

Org

anis

atio

nal

D

evel

opm

ent

Pla

nn

ing

&

Imp

rove

men

t

Res

ourc

es /

Trea

sure

r

Safe

r C

omm

un

itie

s

Trai

nin

g &

A

ssu

ran

ce

1 Station End IT Refresh (Phase 3&4) x

2 Pagers and Alerters x

3 MDT Modernisation (Hardware & Software) x

5 CRM x

6 EDRMS x

8 Finance System Improvement / Replacement x

10 ESN (ESMCP) x

11 FireWatch (S/W and HR process upgrade) x

12 PSN Compliance x

14 Information Security x

16 Integrated Health & Safety System x

17 Fleet & Asset Replacement System x

25 Migrate to Windows 10 x

26 Migrate to OneDrive x

27 Migrate to Outlook Secure Send x

30 Implement Sharepoint Online x

32 Migrate to Exchange Online x

35 Decommission MIS x

36 eIRS software Upgrade x

37 Upgrade TomTom Bridge x

40 Laptop Lifing x

41 Desktop Lifing x

42 Migrate Lifeboat to Sharepoint Online x

44 Migrate to AD Online x

45 Station IT Replacement x

47 Station PA System Replacement x

48 WAN CPE Replacement x

49 IT Outsource re-tender x

53 One to many video STC Cisco Room Kit x

54 BlueLight Exchange x

55 Implement Password Manager x

58 FireWatch Appliance Availability Integration x

59 FireWatch Retained Pay Integration x

60 Azure Cloud Backup x

61 GDPR File Cleanse x

63 Mobile Phone and Device Strategy x

Appendix 1 – Detailed IT Projects (One-off Costs)

64 Lewes HQ Network Lifing x

66 IP Telephony Strategy x

67 Primary Data Centre Infrastructure lifing x

68 Printing Strategy x

69 Secondary Data Centre Infrastructure lifing x

70 WAN strategy x

71 VPN Migration x

72 MDM Migration x

74 Station End IT Refresh (Switch Replacement) x

78 Performance Management System 2,3,4) x

80 iLearn & FireWatch Integration x

84 Project 21 - ESFRS IT Integration Costs x

85 Increase Flexible working capabilities x

information technology (it) strategy

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